Entertainment

Seismic Fabric Protects Buildings From Earthquakes

Modern buildings constructed in earthquake-prone areas are equipped with the latest technology to withstand a seismic event, but what about the older buildings? Retrofitting can be a costly and disruptive process, so the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) developed "Sisma Calce," a type of fabric that can be applied to building walls to make them better able to withstand earthquakes.

The developers hope the material will make older buildings more prepared to withstand the shaking of an earthquake without sustaining grave damage. In brief earthquakes, researchers are hopeful that it could prevent damage altogether.

"Sisma Calce" — translated as "Earthquake Lime" — is a "glass fiber plastic fabric material." The developers, Lothar Stempniewski and Moritz Urban, have been working for years on a low-cost reinforcement option for buildings in danger from earthquakes, and they describe their newest product as "concrete innovation."

Italian building materials manufacturer Röfix will commercialize the material. The company has included the fabric itself and the plaster for adhering it to walls in the product line. The stiffness and tensile strength of the material are what gives the walls of buildings added resilience during an earthquake, offering added support that should delay or prevent damage in minor earthquakes.

"Thanks to the reinforcement, collapsing of walls due to earthquakes can be delayed and, in the ideal case, be avoided completely," says Urban. "Particularly in the case of short and moderate earthquakes, mostly not much more additional tensile strength is needed to avoid a collapse of the building."

The material is designed for application on exterior brick or stone walls of buildings, but researchers are currently working on versions for concrete and interior walls.

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